Microsoft explains its location data collection practices

In the midst of an uproar over ways that Apple and Google collect and store location information from mobile phones, Microsoft has laid out details about its Windows Phone 7 data collection policies.

Because Microsoft has a relatively small mobile market share, it may escape some of the questions aimed at its competitors. Over the past weeks, the Illinois attorney general, Minnesota Senator Al Franken and Congressman Edward Markey have all asked Apple and Google to respond to questions about their location collection activities. Two consumers have filed a lawsuit in Florida charging both companies with fraud. In addition, governments in Korea and Europe are reportedly investigating the matter.